Judge: I'll rule Thursday on bond motion for George Zimmerman

SANFORD – The judge in George Zimmerman's second-degree murder case said Tuesday that he expects to rule Thursday on whether to release the defendant or keep him locked up in the Seminole County Jail.

Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester Jr. made the announcement at the close of his afternoon court session.

He has begun drafting the order, he told the nearly-empty courtroom, and expects to file it Thursday.

The Seminole County Courthouse is closed Wednesday because of the Independence Day holiday.

The 28-year-old Zimmerman is charged in the death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black 17-year-old from Miami Gardens.

Zimmerman says he acted in self-defense when he killed the teenager Feb. 26. Witnesses told Sanford police they saw and heard the two on the ground fighting.

Zimmerman told police that Trayvon knocked him to the ground with a single punch then began pounding his head on a sidewalk. He complained of tenderness in his sacroiliac joint and pain in his nose and head, a medical report shows.

Zimmerman's doctor says he suffered a broken nose, black eyes and cuts to his head.

The medical report, released Monday by Zimmerman's attorney, Mark O'Mara, says Zimmerman had two cuts on his scalp – one less than an inch long and the other much smaller. They did not require stitches. The report also documents bruising below Zimmerman's nose and the black eyes.

A physician assistant who treated Zimmerman wrote that the wounds did not require stitches but said it was "imperative" that he see his psychologist for an evaluation in light of what happened. Zimmerman declined the physician assistant's recommendation to see an ear-nose-throat specialist, according to the report.

Prosecutors allege that Zimmerman is guilty of racial profiling, that he spotted the teenager walking through his neighborhood, assumed he was about to commit a crime, began pursuing him, then murdered him.

Zimmerman was free on $150,000 bond, but the judge ordered him back in jail June 1 after he learned the defendant and his wife had about $130,000 tucked away. Zimmerman's wife, Shellie, had testified at an April 20 hearing that the couple was broke.

The defendant also testified at that hearing but said nothing to correct his wife's testimony.